1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an information announcing apparatus, an information announcing terminal device, and a method of controlling the information announcing apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to an information announcing apparatus, an information announcing terminal device, and a method of controlling the information announcing apparatus, that can detect and recognize a sound signal and that can notify a user of the information based on the recognition.
2. Description of Related Art
Voice recognition equipment is known in which a voice signal is detected, analyzed, and matched with one of recorded voice patterns. Then, the matching pattern is retrieved to identify the voice signal. Thus, the known voice recognition equipment detects from among recorded voice patterns a corresponding voice, and displays the kind and contents of the voice signal.
The following describes a general configuration of the known voice recognition equipment with reference to FIG. 3. As shown, a voice input block 110 detects a voice signal and converts the same into an electrical signal, which is then supplied to a voice analyzing block 120. The voice analyzing block 120 analyzes the frequency of the electrical signal, and supplies the analyzed results to a characteristic data extracting block 130. The characteristic data extracting block 130 extracts characteristic data of the frequency-analyzed voice signal, and supplies the extracted characteristic data to a characteristic data matching block 140. The characteristic data matching block 140 compares the extracted characteristic data with each of plural voice patterns stored in a characteristic data memory block 150 to retrieve a matching voice pattern.
Consequently, in response to the matching voice pattern stored in the characteristic data memory block 150, an information output block 170 reads output information associated to the corresponding voice characteristic pattern from an information memory block 160 which stores the output information for use by the user to evaluate and respond to the voice signal. Then, the information output block 170 produces the output information on a screen display or in the form of audio announcement.
However, in the conventional voice recognition equipment, the characteristic data memory block 150 only stores pre-selected characteristic patterns in advance. Therefore, new voice patterns cannot be stored after factory shipment. This disables the conventional voice recognition equipment to notify the user of the detection of a new voice signal that is not stored in the characteristic data memory block 150.
An aid device for notifying auditory handicapped persons of the detection of an input voice signal by media other than audio is disclosed in Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. Hei 7-93669. With the disclosed device, if an alarm siren of an ambulance generated from a loudspeaker of a television set is incidentally picked up, the false alarm siren is erroneously recognized as a real alarm sound, thereby notifying the auditory handicapped person of the false information or message.
The conventional voice recognition equipment is constructed so that the voice input block and the information output block cannot be arranged at widely spaced locations. This construction limits the voice detecting range. In addition, the conventional equipment cannot allocate a source point of a voice signal. Consequently, the conventional equipment cannot provide information sufficient for the aid of auditory handicapped persons.